Steven Shaw could only shake his head when flashing lights appeared in his rearview mirror on April 2, 2012.

A ticket for rolling through a stop sign seemed like an inconvenience for the 43-year-old resident of Blue Springs, Mo., who had just dropped his two kids off at school there. He had no idea that he’d be spending the next three weeks in jail.

Shaw was arrested, told he’d been charged in Plano with injury to a child and extradited to Collin County. Then, 23 days later, he was abruptly released. Someone, he says, had made a mistake. The charge against him had already been dropped at the time of the arrest.

Now Shaw is suing Collin County and Plano, saying the ordeal cost him his job and made it difficult for him to find a new one.

“This arrest keeps popping up,” he said. “I have had a couple of offers that I have missed out on because of this arrest. It is hindering me from being able to support my kids in the way that I should be able to.”

No comment

Plano and Collin County officials declined to comment on the case, citing the pending lawsuit. Neither government has denied or admitted making a mistake, but both have filed motions seeking to have the lawsuit dismissed.

Their silence makes it hard to piece together exactly what happened. In his lawsuit, Shaw speculates that someone either accidentally entered his name into an arrest warrant database or failed to remove his name when the charges were dropped. Court documents confirm that the charges had been dropped months before.

Shaw moved to Missouri from the Dallas area in 2011 to be closer to his ex-wife and sons, he said. In 2009, Plano police had investigated him in the case of an 8-year-old who suffered unexplained internal bleeding and injuries to his liver, pancreas and small intestine. The boy was the son of a girlfriend he had after his marriage split up, documents indicate.

The mother told police that the boy had been with her boyfriend “Steven Black” for most of the day that the injuries occurred. Two months into the investigation, the boy’s two older brothers told police that “Mr. Steven” had caused the injuries. But a lie-detector test given to the mother indicated that she had been deceptive in her interviews with police.

For months, investigators couldn’t find anyone named Steven Black. But, after obtaining phone records, they learned that the mother had been in regular contact with Shaw. Investigators concluded that Shaw was the culprit and issued a warrant for his arrest on July 14, 2011, almost two years after the injuries occurred.

Six months later, a grand jury reviewed the case and determined that there wasn’t enough evidence against Shaw to proceed. It’s unclear what caused jurors to reach that conclusion. Grand jury proceedings are confidential.

But Shaw’s lawyer says one thing is sure: The arrest warrant should have been rescinded.

23 days in jail

When Shaw was arrested, police took him to a jail in Kansas City. Officers there told him little about the case.

“Everybody in Kansas City said that the charge was in Texas, so there was nothing that I could do about it in Kansas City,” he said.

It wasn’t Shaw’s first time in legal trouble — he had been arrested on a family violence charge in Dallas County in 2006. The charge was eventually reduced to a misdemeanor and he was sentenced to probation, county records indicate. But in this case, Shaw said he didn’t know he was being investigated.

At the time of his arrest, Shaw had just begun a job in insurance sales and had joint custody of his two sons, ages 5 and 9. He said his first phone call from jail was to his ex-wife, who picked the kids up from school and told his new bosses that he had a family emergency.

After Shaw spent 11 days in Kansas City, a Collin County deputy showed up and took him to Texas, where he was arraigned and his bail was set at $25,000.

Shaw described his time in jail as excruciating. On the inside, he read 18 books and tried to teach himself chess. On the outside, his ex-wife vaguely told his kids that their dad had had to go to Texas. His employers quickly hired a replacement, Shaw said.

Then, after he had spent 23 days in jail, a guard came to his cell and led him to a private room. Inside, Shaw saw his clothes, wallet, car keys and cellphone on a table. The guard told him he was free to go.

Shaw said he spent the night at a friend’s house in Dallas — authorities said they couldn’t give him a ride back to Missouri. He took a bus home the next day.

Little he can do

Shaw sued Plano and Collin County in April, seeking unspecified damages. He says the arrest has made it difficult for him to find a job. Potential employers turn cold when they run background checks.

One job offer at a bank was revoked, he said. He tried to explain the situation but was met with skepticism.

“He just looked at me like I was crazy,” he said.

His lawyer, Jeff Benton, admitted that the suit will be difficult to win. Municipal and county governments have immunity from many lawsuits. To win damages, Shaw probably would have to prove that someone in the government intended to do him harm or that he was the victim of a prejudicial policy. Plano and Collin County said in court documents that the suit doesn’t claim either.

Shaw and his lawyer say they still don’t know why he was arrested. It may have been a clerical error. Someone could have forgotten to enter into a computer that Shaw’s charges had been dropped — or someone hit the wrong button or checked the wrong box.

Whatever happened, Shaw says he’s entitled to some kind of compensation. If nothing else, he said, he hopes the lawsuit stops this from happening to someone else.

“Twenty-three days is a long time to be in jail if you aren’t supposed to be,” he said.